Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Nine: Colin Colton

Eleven years ago... Avery Demetry's Point of View...

   I slept with some premed student. He was back in Pennsylvania for his parent's wedding anniversary or something like that. It was sloppy and quick and fueled by alcohol. What was his name? His sister, his younger sister, was a grade below me. I'd just graduated from MENA, where his mom taught... Colton. Surname Colton. I needed to know who he was.
   Because I had some news for him.
   Dammit, how could I have been so stupid?


   "What are you doing here?" I glanced down at the stray cat that was on the deck. I couldn't afford a cat. I'd moved to South Carolina, since I got into college here and now... Now, I don't know. Could I go to college like this? I couldn't afford college and... And this and the cat. "Look, baby doll, I can't take care of you."


   "Oh, baby doll, you're so cute... I. Damn hormones. I can't afford you, you know that? I really can't." But she was so cute and so innocent and so, so... Damn hormones, making me want to be all motherly and not abandon some dumb stray. "I guess you can stay with me, keep me company."
   I named her Baby Doll and she kept me and my actual baby company. I knew Colton had to be the father, I had a boyfriend in high school, but we'd decided to part ways after graduation. The last time he and I had slept together was on my eighteenth birthday, in April. I supposed my baby would be due in February. I'd be an eighteen year old mom. A teen mom. Great. I had to find out, remember Colton's name, I couldn't do this on my own...
   As the months passed, I spent more and more time going to the library to read pregnancy books and research Coltons...


   Going to the thrift shop so I could barter for baby supplied and pet supplies...


    Until my little bundle of joy finally arrived: Colin Colton. Born February fourteenth, six pounds, three ounces, eighteen inches. Mom Avery Demetry, dad Harrison Colton. I just didn't know how to contact Colin's daddy.

Sorry this chapter's so short!

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